Hello to everyone reading this blog, you might remember me from last year as this is my second time writing a blog with and for the Northern Youth Abroad program. My name is Mitchell Mannilaq and I am from Taloyoak Nunavut but I have been living in Gjoa Haven Nunavut for the past 2 years now. When I first heard about the NYA program I must’ve been like 10 because one of my older sisters was already attending the program, from there on I knew I had to attend the program once I get older. And here I am writing a blog for my NYA experience and also attending both of their core programs. I’ll always encourage the youth from Gjoa Haven and Taloyoak to always try and apply for one of the programs that NYA has to offer because believe me when I tell you NYA HAS CHANGED MY LIFE!

Okay I want to start talking about my NYA Next experience now! First off I obviously started with traveling, a group of us from the Kitikmeot region and almost everyone from NWT overnighted in Yellowknife, nothing too exciting as it was just an overnight. Next day we flew to Calgary, had a few hour layover then we finally headed to Ottawa. We arrived at Ottawa’s airport around midnight and I finally got to see the wonderful NYA staff again. They are all very beautiful in their own way <3. Next day orientation started and holy I was very very tired, I was very sleep deprived. After orientation was 2 weeks worth of waking early and getting work done, we did things like touring campuses, visiting a barn that is older than Canada, doing a lot of trades, delivering food from the food banks, doing a scavenger hunt and exploring Ottawa, touring the outside of parliament, using a golf simulator for the first time, touring Nunavut Sivuniksavut, and a really important one for me is attending the Assembly of First Nations. Very strong words and very very inspiring.

And this last experience I’ll be talking about is very recent so I can tell you about it in detail. So today July 17 2026 as I am writing this we went to TD Place and watched a professional women’s soccer game. It was the Ottawa Rapids versus the Halifax Tides. Although I was cheering for Halifax they lost 2-1, it was very fun and probably the best night so far. I got to eat pizza and drink some pop. After the game I got some pictures with team Halifax. It is getting very late as I am writing this blog now so I should probably get some sleep so I can be ready for trades tomorrow. I hope you enjoyed reading Mitchell Mannilaq’s 2026 NYA experience and I hope you have a wonderful day!